Joseph Hollcraft MA
Theological Foundations CCP 210
Week 7: October 18, 2007
XII. Grace, Virtues Gifts: The destiny of man cannot be achieved on his own, we must receive the life of grace to be “known as we are known” (Sheed, 135). Sanctifying grace is the infusion of life into the soul and Actual Grace is the putting into motion that life (Sheed, 137). “The moral virtues concern our relation with all things that are less than God” (Sheed, 136). “They dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love” (CCC 1804). The moral virtues are otherwise known as the Cardinal virtues because they are the virtues in which all others are “hinged” upon, as they are “principle, chief or essential.”
1. Prudence: The moral virtue which the intellect sees. The other three virtues “help the will what the intellect sees” (Shea, 136)--Demarco’s analogy, pg 191). Consult Word of the Week on prudence.
2. Justice: The firm resolve to give God and neighbor their due. It is a profound and inexhaustible concern for the body of Christ that leads to the action of service; an uprightness towards neighbor. A man of justice is a man of character (CCC 1807).
a. One who is just is right in all of his relationships and sees the need for all things to be in harmony with the Father—it is relational at its core. It is not subjective in a kind of emotional state rather it is objective in concrete action.
1. Consider the “just” Joseph in Scripture…ordered lives and willing to serve at a moments notice. They are just men because they are just in their other-centeredness.
2. Justice is the antithesis of being absorbed in self and material gain. Materialism and secularization are the works of evil against justice. A world populated with the like is devoid of this great virtue.
a. Justice presupposes love and is not isolated but rather communal be definition
3. Consult Word of the Week Justified.
3. Fortitude: “The moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good” (CCC 1808). The word is derived from the Latin fortissimo, meaning “strong and brave”. Along with temperance, the moral virtue deals with how we handle ourselves with others.
a. Put simply, no virtue is realized unless there is a struggle and it is fought for. Many have said this virtue that it is the one lacking in a culture that is measured by how convenient we can make everything (technology).
1. Fortitude is closely linked to perseverance, where patience (means “to suffer or to endure”) perfects all things. Often the very thing that we do not want to do the cardinal virtue of fortitude demands that we do it!
b. Martyrdom is the peak of fortitude observed. Fortitude is also measured by readiness to serve and willingness to die for other.
c. Consult Word of the Week Vigilance.
4. Temperance: “The moral virtue that moderates our pleasures” (1809). The word is derived from the Latin temperantia, meaning “to modify; balance”.
a. Temperance tames man appetites; aiding the will to shun all that is ostentatious. In this manner of speaking temperance is the cardinal virtue to humility.
b. Consult Word of the Week on Temperance.
Homework Assignment: Reflecting upon Jesus of Nazareth, pgs 70-99 and Sacred Scripture, Mt.5.1-12, explain to me how spiritual poverty, or poverty of heart, helps us to better understand the beatitudes.